Quote

Competition among insurers would bring down the cost of health care insurance, just as it brings down the cost of car or homeowners insurance.

Competition makes things come out right. Well, what does that mean in health care? More hospitals so they compete with each other. More doctors compete with each other. More pharmaceutical companies. We set up war. Wait a minute, let's talk about the patient. The patient doesn't need a war.

This marketplace where people can buy insurance who don't have it today - a competitive marketplace: That's an idea that both sides embrace.

I want to give consumers way more choices in health care. Choice and competition always drive down costs better than central control.

Today we have a health insurance industry where the first and foremost goal is to maximize profits for shareholders and CEOs, not to cover patients who have fallen ill or to compensate doctors and hospitals for their services. It is an industry that is increasingly concentrated and where Americans are paying more to receive less.

As premiums continue to skyrocket, we must ensure that health insurers are not engaging in anticompetitive behavior and unfairly driving up health care costs.

The Affordable Care Act has been designed to provide health security by driving competition, lowering premiums, and protecting families.

I believe we can incentivize more affordable health care in general by better regulating insurance and creating meaningful competition for health care services.

Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress.

Here's where the insurance companies really fail us. They over-pay hospitals, specialists and drug companies and then raise premiums to cover the costs. Further, when they pay hospitals 115% of what it should cost to care for a patient, they are paying for inefficiency that can be dangerous.